Genus and species: Zantedeschia species.
Variety denomination: xe2x80x98Hot Chocolatexe2x80x99.
The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of calla lily, botanically known as Zantedeschia spp, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name xe2x80x98Hot Chocolatexe2x80x99. The new cultivar is asexually reproduced from vegetative cuttings and tissue culture resulting from the cross of the seed parent xe2x80x98Cameoxe2x80x99xc3x97the pollen parent, a dark purple seedling that is an unnamed and unpatented proprietary line. The seed parent, xe2x80x98Cameo,xe2x80x99 differs from the observed plant, xe2x80x98Hot Chocolatexe2x80x99 in that the spathe is an apricot-salmon color. xe2x80x98Hot Chocolatexe2x80x99 has medium green arrow-shaped leaves while the pollen parent, the unnamed dark purple seedling, has more oval shaped and darker green leaves.
xe2x80x98Hot Chocolatexe2x80x99 is a product of a planned breeding program intended to create new calla lily plants with a deep burgundy spathe.
The new cultivar was created in 1998 in Tauranga New Zealand and and has been asexually reproduced repeatedly by vegetative cuttings and tissue culture in New Zealand over a 3 year period. The present invention has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive propagations; and this novelty is firmly fixed.